Juan Francisco Reyes (soldier)

Juan Francisco Reyes (1749–1809), soldado de cuero ("leather-jacketed soldier") on the 1769 Portola expedition, alcalde (municipal magistrate) of the Pueblo de Los Angeles for three terms, and recipient of the Spanish land grant for Rancho Los Encinos and later Lompoc.

In 1769 Francisco Reyes, left his home in Mexico to join the Spanish army and to accompany Fr. Junípero Serra on his journey to establish the California missions. Francisco Reyes served at Monterey and San Luis Obispo and was stationed at Mission San Antonio de Padua during its construction.

In 1784, Francisco Reyes received the Spanish land grant, Rancho Los Encinos, which comprised what is now the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California. He used the land for cattle ranching. In 1795, however, the Spanish mission founders decided that Rancho Los Encinos would be a favorable location for the Mission San Fernando. Reyes returned Rancho Los Encinos to the Mission. He requested a new land grant and received land in central California in 1802, between Mission San Luis Obispo and Mission La Purísima Concepción. Reyes did not reside there. Reyes maintained an adobe house in the Pueblo de Los Angeles. Reyes became alcalde of the Pueblo of Los Angeles in 1790, and 1793-1795.

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